OK guys, NO LAUGHING!!!! Just came back from Florida and bought and tried out a spoon fly. Absolutely loved the castability (like a rocket) and action. Of course, that didn't result in fish as we had a cold front move in every 4 days for the 3 weeks we were down there. Real wussy fish...water gets to 65 degrees and the bite is off.
Am interested in trying one out for stripers (stop laughing!!!!)
Anyone have an idea of what the base is for it's construction?

As an aside...every FF down there were wearing waders with fleece, I was in a bathing suit and am not half as tough as the "Ironman"
Ron

Ron,
Been tying a few of these up as I am heading over there next week and I hear they are great for the reds, if they show. Hear a few sea trout have been caught recently in the Gulf near Dunedin.

I have been tying mine with a marabou tail and then getting some large gold mylar tubing, putting some superglue inside, over the hook and holding it flat until the material sits flat by itself. Then just putting epoxy over.

Someone told me to make it with two sheets of mylar and put a rattle in the middle, but I couldn't find mylar sheets. I am sure something similar would have done the trick.

Thanks Jamie, Been doing some web research....one guy wrote back and uses fake plastic fingernails for the base.....can't wait to go to CVS in the cosmetic department :-) Will try your technique as well. It's winter....so all I can do is think of something new to create at the fly tying table, then in the spring, I'll use my regular flies :-)
I was fishing the Sanibel area of Florida (gulf coast).......saw a lot of reds, even more snook, one over 30 inches at least.....passed on by like a bad day on the south beach flats in August. Sea trout were the only hungry fish...find a sand bar...go out till you see grass....cast to where the water clarity is gone.......bang!
Slimey fish!!! After beating the water to a froth for reds and snook I was seeing....I was told by a local that it was a waste of time till the water was 70 degrees. Of course the spin fishers with live shrimp did better.
Ron

I made some with stripers (and maybe tunoids) in mind but haven't fished them a lot. Key to getting action seemed to be proper weight at the bend and a wispy tail like maribou.. Longer tails like hackle just kill it. I flattend the tubing over the shank and added mono to define the edges and make it a bit wider. I also made a bit of a bend back in 34007s. This one hasn't been epoxied yet but you can see the construction. Idea was to have a peanut that would wobble along the bottom underneath the bait.. I also made a couple from bucktail, dark and white colors side by side (wounded bait on it's side), basicly just crushing the bcuktail and epoxy flat to make the spoon shape while the epoxy was still green.

Hi Jamie
Good to meet you on this board.
I have experimented with many different types of spoon flies.
My friend D.L. Goddard gave me my first samples and I have tied to make my own with plastic fingernails, mylar, epoxy all sorts of things.
Whatever method you use you must test them..
The biggest problem is that, if they are not properly shaped or weighted, when retrieved the come to the surface and skate. I have spent many hours experimenting and finally decided to give up and use Dupree's Spoon Fly.
If you manage to work out a method for producing good flies let me know. It is not easy.